Towns Ruled Liable For Snow Removal Impact

October 01, 1999|By James Janega, Tribune Staff Writer.

An Illinois Supreme Court decision on Thursday holds communities liable for the quality of their snow removal, but the ruling won't change the way streets and highways are cleared, attorneys and government officials said.

The unanimous court opinion, penned by Justice Benjamin K. Miller, upheld a Cook County jury's finding that a January 1991 accident at Ridgeland Avenue and Vollmer Road near Matteson was partially the result of snow piled too high by Cook County Highway Department workers.

"We disagree with this respectfully, because we think that snowstorms are very difficult things to handle," said Bob Benjamin, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, which defended the county's actions in court. "The county tries to be careful about what it does with snow. But we're going to have to shovel snow, and it's not always easy to pat the snow down so it's lower than a dachshund."

County Highway Department spokesman Jack Beary said workers have always tried to push plowed snow away from traffic sight lines and would continue to do so.

The Supreme Court's decision essentially acts as a tie-breaker on the matter of community liability for snow removal. The issue was handled differently in two similar cases decided by Illinois Appellate Courts.

In a 1988 case, the Appellate Court found Lake in the Hills was not liable for a car accident in which one of the drivers could not see around a snow pile. In 1995, the Appellate Court decided Downstate Girard was responsible when a woman sued after falling off a mound of snow piled by city workers.

The plaintiff in the 1991 accident, 49-year-old Matteson mechanic Paul R. Ziencina, sued Cook County and the driver of another car after Ziencina's car was hit while pulling out onto Vollmer Road. Ziencina and other witnesses said he stopped at the stop sign on Ridgeland, then edged farther and farther into the intersection as he tried to see around a snow pile. He never saw the car that hit him, said his attorney, Timothy Heath.

"The other driver said he first saw Mr. Ziencina's bumper, then a little bit more, then a little bit more. By the time he could see Mr. Ziencina, it was too late," said Heath.

Ziencina's ribs were broken in nine places, separating his rib cage from his spine and causing him difficulty breathing, which he still experiences, said Heath. Ziencina was awarded $600,000 in the earlier trial.

"The basic idea here is that this snow pile was not the result of a snowstorm; it was the result of plowing. But you have to move snow and put it somewhere," said Benjamin.

The issue has long been a matter of concern for Chicago, which has gone to great effort and expense not only to push snow out of the way, but in some cases to cart it off, said Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation spokesman Terry Levin.

"When the city gets that much snow, where it would get piled 3, 4, 5 feet along the parkway, we go into a snow removal program. We bring in trucks and forklifts and remove it to empty parking lots for public safety," said Levin. "It's become routine now."

But as with Cook County, Levin said the city was unlikely to change its snow removal practice because workers already do their best to minimize the inconvenience caused by the manmade snowdrifts.

"Since we're already dealing with snow removal, it should not force any significant change in our operations," said Levin.

Still, the decision was received with disappointment by county officials.

"It's always hard to deal with snow around here, and now it's going to be harder," Benjamin said.